Wed 3rd Feb 2010
SUS
I remember growing up in late 70s; I would hear black men were frequently held by the police for no other reason. So when The New Black was invited to Channel 4 this week to watch a preview of SUS, a film adaption of writer Barrie Keeffe’s play of the same name, I didn’t hesitate to go to the lunchtime screening.
Actor Clint Dyer (right) who starred in the sell-out production at the Young Vic Theatre dreamt up the idea for a film last May. Now eight months later he has produced and also stars in this powerful, socially conscious drama. The setting is on the night of the 1979 General Election, the eve of the Thatcher government coming into power. Delroy, an unemployed young black man is arrested on SUS. He spends the whole night in a police interview room, where he is brutally interrogated by police officers Karn and Wilby. The film becomes even more disturbing when Delroy is finally told why he has been nicked... for the murder of his wife (Angela Laurent Smith). He pleads his innocence, but in the eyes of the law, concepts like justice and truth don't enter into the equation at all. SUS can become claustrophobic as you watch both officers leaving the room several times, while the SUSpect can’t leave. The dialogue is hard hitting and the performances by the actors are well directed by Robert Heath. SUS was shot in cinemascope using the state-of-the-art Red camera system at Elstree Studios and on location in East London. Added Note: Barrie Keefe wrote the screenplay for the classic British gangster movie The Long Good Friday, starring Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren. |  |
What is SUS? In the vernacular of the British police force, "SUS" is short for "Under Suspicion." The notorious ‘SUS’ laws, based on the 1824 Vagrancy Act, gave police the power to stop and search anyone suspected of being about to commit a crime. The law was repealed in 1981 following a massive public campaign and spontaneous riots in the St. Paul’s area of Bristol, Brixton, London and Toxteth, Liverpool. |
For more info on SUS visit www.susthemovie.com
Review written by Duncan Isaac for The New Black